ER

My girl waited until the ripe ol' age of eight for her first trip to the emergency room.  Thank you Audrey Frances!  Your little sis had me scurrying there at two in the morning when she was a mere two weeks of age.

So on Wednesday, Audrey comes in from playing outside and tells me her eyelid itches.  "Itch it", I say. Then I look at it.  There was a tiny white head in the middle of her eyelid.  "You're fine", I declare and shoo her away.

Everything is fine-and then...  Thursday evening, "Mom, my eye itches."  I look and this time it is a little swollen.  I announce that she has a stye.  We go through the definition and facts of styes and then a warm compress follows Audrey into bed.

Friday follows Thursday, and it is Audrey's turn to spend the night with Maw Maw Mavis.  At 1:30 Saturday morning, we get a call.  "Audrey's eye is completely swollen shut and she is crying and wants you to come get her."  The Saturday morning fishing trip is immediately called off.  She calms down and goes to bed and so do we.

We head over to Maw Maws for Audrey later that morning.  We call the doctor and decide that even though the nurse just thinks it is a stye, we would feel better having her checked out.  Dr. Rezabek greets us and decides that she may have an infection and that we will probably never know what caused her eye to swell up so.

A day of fun is followed at Maw Maws.  Bella and Aimee are in town and all three little girls play at full speed for hours.  Audrey, at this point, had started her Benadryl and Augmentin.  Then...from my mom, "Audrey's face is swollen."  I look and indeed it is.  We decide that she needs to lay down, calm down, and put a cool compress on her eye.  We were supposed to do this earlier, but let it slide-oops.

Eric is supposed to go tie flies with some friends, so we leave Audrey at my mom's to go home and get his truck and let the dog out.  We come back to Mom's and Audrey is crying and throwing up.  I call the doctor's exchange.  This doctor informs me that the throwing up is probably related to the medicine.  The swollen face makes her very concerned that the infection is spreading.  She explains that infections in this area tend to spread quickly and can be serious-being so close to the brain.  So off to St. John's ER we go.  

In the car, Audrey is still throwing up and scared.  She chills out on the way to the hospital and isn't scared anymore.  We get there and she says that she is cold and starts shivering.  The lovely receptionist gives her a big smile, inquires about her "poor eye", and gets Audrey a heated blanket and wraps my girl up.  Meanwhile, the other receptionist tells me she will get all of Audrey's information in the computer very quickly.  

Within minutes, a nurse from the pediatric ER escorts us over to the completely empty, fish themed waiting room.  We have the place to ourselves.  We observe the myriad of fish in the aquarium.  Audrey points out the detailed characteristics of the fish.  At first glance, they look alike, and then upon closer observation, they are suddenly much more interesting than first thought.  Our fun is interrupted by a nurse taking us into a private room.

Nurse Jim is assigned to my girl.  He was awesome.  He put us all at ease and we have a nice chat while answering his many questions.  Next comes Doctor Sarah.  She is focused and listens intently.  She examines Audrey.  When she is finished, she says something completely unexpected.  "Let me tell you what I like about the way her eye looks."  What?  It is purple and swollen.  She looks like somebody clocked her one.  She starts with the positive-brilliant!  I like that approach very much.  

The good doctor doesn't think that Audrey has an infection at all.  She says that an infected eyelid would be hard and not soft like Audrey's.  When she pulled Audrey's eyelid up to examine it with a little light, Audrey barely protests.  Such an action, performed on an infected eye, would cause excruciating pain.  Her diagnosis: A localized reaction-probably from an insect bite.  

Who goes to the ER, has a good time, makes friends, and leaves smiling?  We do!  That's who!  Dr. Sarah tells Audrey that she, too, has itchy spots.  She takes off her medical doctor coat thingy, and shows Audrey a pink patch on her arm.  Grass makes her skin itchy.  Her night time solution to the insatiable itch?  She has a bowl next to her bed that holds a cold, damp, cloth. When she wakes up with that itch, she reaches for her cloth and it fixes her right up.

We are relieved!  The doctor leaves and we are left waiting for the insurance biller to arrive.  We meet the darling Kristen who just returned from a trip to Las Vegas with her boyfriend.  She rolls her cart in and gets the necessary information.  We have an ugly co-pay, but are thankful for both wonderful insurance and medical facilities.  We have a lovely chat with Kristen.  She saw Cirque du Soleil while there.  She doesn't gamble and she walked five miles (round trip) on the strip.  Surprisingly, she says, there are lots of kids in Vegas.  Every hotel has huge, inexpensive arcades.  She frequented the one at her hotel and had a ball.

I think I had more fun in St. John's ER than I've had at family reunions.  For real!  God blesses and answers prayers.  Hallelujah!